February 10, 2014

Looking Ahead: ESPN's Class of 2015

Now that UM head coach Al Golden has landed the stellar, tenth-ranked recruiting class of 2014 and all of those players are signed, sealed and delivered, we thought it might be interesting to take a look ahead and give you a sneak peak into the 2015 ESPN Top 300 list.

With the focus on players from South Florida who made the list, we are especially interested in those who currently are, or could become, targets for the University of Miami.

The following is a list of 31 players who made the Top 300 and are all recruits from the "State of Miami":

Comments

Wait... wait....are my eyes fooling me, or did I just read what I think I read? So our defense which finished dead last in the ACC is "better" according to Golden? Either he is delusional or thinks/hopes we he fans are.

Tell ya'll what, Golden wasn't lyin' about 3rd down coversions and TOP...we stunk up the place in those departments. We converted 56 outta 160 3Ds, and only had the ball for an avg. of 24 MPG. Coley needs to TIGHTEN UP!

"Wait... wait....are my eyes fooling me, or did I just read what I think I read? So our defense which finished dead last in the ACC is "better" according to Golden? Either he is delusional or thinks/hopes we he fans are."

The only thing I can think of is Golden's own evaluations. "Player X has his arm angle 5 more degrees to the left while tackling, therefore we have improved." Meanwhile, he ignored the fact that #DaffyDefense did worse in every category against weaker offenses.

Either way, it's madness. There is no defense. Yes, the offense needs improvement... but a quarterback who stays in a protected pocket and is accuracy-based will do that.

What do you spacers think it would take for D'No to save his job? Please dont tell me about what rank our D needs to be... our D "improved" in overall rankings (NCAA rankings) but was dead last in the ACC. I mean, yards per game, points per game, number of blow outs, number of QB's having career days etc... What improvement do you think needs to happen for him to stay?

jsy... I do agree there. BUT.... BUT... he made a mistake in regards to that. He admittedly said one of the main reasons he did not make a change was the youth (freshman) coming back and the incoming class. So if those players dont save D'No, Golden will be out of excuses... at least the youth excuse. That doesnt mean he wont use that excuse though lol

U remember in the beginning of the year after the uf game he lauds his players for following the scheme and process then end of year he says they are out of position and that they need to trust the process. Hows that possible? Maybe our players all had concussions and amnesia from the constantly being kicked under the buss

So is "middle of the pack" in the ACC enough of an improvement? I think that would go a long way imo.... cannot have blow out losses, especially to average teams. No player should have a career day unless they are an elite talent. I think those are a couple of things hat would single a big improvement.

But again, if you think the d was "better", then ok. Your opinion, no need to go back and forth. Obviously your on of the people who think ending the season with 4 blow out losses was an upward trend lol

No player should have a career day unless they are an elite talent. I think those are a couple of things hat would single a big improvement.

Posted by: UMike | February 10, 2014 at 08:49 AM

WITS!, that's what it comes down to...can D'Onofrexcuses match WITS!, with the likes of Jimbo,Petrino, and Cutcliffe. Elite talent can make ANY! DC look good, but can an elite DC, make that elite talent, look MORE elite...ala Jeremy Pruitt.

The biggest potential problem is the perception of the defensive scheme amongst the future 2014 defensive recruits, we've already had two recruits choose other schools because of it, 2014 is the crossroads for Golden in the eyes of future defensive recruits, he better implement playmaking abilities with his scheme or implements coaching changes

Yes, we had 2 2014 recruits who said the scheme is an issue. It's funny because they BOTH committed knowing the D had issues. One went to a team that had a worse D and well, we know what the other did.

We also had about 14 other recruits who want to play for this D (lol).

30, Go back to early December and see for yourself. UMike, thank you. No need to hash out. I butchered the defense, and no sane individual can defend it.

"What do you spacers think it would take for D'No to save his job?"

I've been holding off on this for a while in Soup's spirit of positivity. But I've got to be honest...

...nothing short of a top 50 defense, 10 win season, ACC title appearance, and a bowl game win will save D'Onofrio or Golden's job.

Love Al, but hate his decision making. It's as if he never heard the words "conditional loyalty." Donna Shalala will allow the program to win 8 or 9 games a year, but the alumni and consumers won't allow it. If you recall, only when the "Fire Shannon" banners vs. USF and decreasing ticket sales did Shalala act.

I hope I'm wrong, but here's my prediction (I'll save this one so we can celebrate if I'm wrong):

- UM falls short of the marks I set above. They lose a game they're not supposed to, one of those 45-41 shootouts vs. an inferior ACC opponent. The game costs us another title appearance. People stop coming to games and stop buying merchandise. The alumni calls for D'Onofrio's head. Golden defends D'Onofrio. Golden gets the axe because of his willful refusal to fire him.

Yes, we had 2 2014 recruits who said the scheme is an issue. It's funny because they BOTH committed knowing the D had issues. One went to a team that had a worse D and well, we know what the other did.

We also had about 14 other recruits who want to play for this D (lol).

Posted by: 30CINCO | February 10, 2014 at 09:08 AM

So if the defense continues to have problems this year you don't think the number of recruits concern's will grow regarding the style of play

"What is the purpose of removing out of conference teams when teams do not play the same conf schedule?"

30: here's a basic rundown.

1. I removed Savannah and Bethune from the equation because they are FCS teams.

- The defense played offenses averaging 73rd (2012? 59th).
- They played 1 top 20 offense and 7 offenses ranked 80th or below (2012? 3 top 20's and 4 ranked 80th or below).
- Despite allowing fewer points (around 4 less), the defense performed WORSE than other teams did against 7 opponents (USF, Wake, Va. Tech, Duke, Virginia, Pitt, and Louisville).
- They gave up 20+ points in every game for 10 straight games. 30+ in 6 games. 40+ in 3.
- In 68% (25 of 37) of the total games under D'Onofrio (2011-2013), the defense has surrendered at least 20 points.
- In 41% (15 of 37), at least 30.
- In 19% (7 of 37), at least 40.
- Of the FBS teams held under 20 points, only 2 had winning records: N. Carolina (2012) and Ga. Tech (2011).

Again, all this outrage over what Golden said, which part of it is not true?

I've heard "improvement on D is not true" : That is false

He states the offense needed to improve in 3rd down efficiency and time of possession. What part of that is not true? And who is he throwing under the bus? He already said he talked to Coley about it, and Coley knows that as well. So it's ok to point out what the defense needs to improve on, but not ok for the offense?

last year we saw big runs up the middle during the spring game. it was a sign of things to come. I don't think we will see that this year, due to duke and yearby being out. But, with the growth of crawford and big/little back#7, if we see a lot of 8-12 yard runs we are in trouble...again.

Defense: I agree with some of the posters, let the athletes be athletes and make plays. Our defense should NEVER be the 'career' game for any running back or quarterback. PERIOD! NO EXCUSES. Logan Thomas is a terrible QB, and our D make him look like Vinny T!
So that's what I want - a more athletic, aggressive defense that stops teams on 3rd down!
As for Offense: I am giving Coley this year - last year his hands were tied with Morris (IMO not a very good QB and injured) and it was his 1st year. I have very high hopes for his offense this year!
RB: I would like to see Brown work with Gus on running like a 'big' back. On 1st and goal, there is NO REASON Gus the Bus should not score for us.
Recruiting: I LOVE our DT, DE, and LB! Purely opinion, but I really think Wyche and Young are going to help right away!
Go Canes and have a great day!

I think its obvious the D did NOT improve. If you want to use stats, just look at LB's. It would of been dam near impossible for the stats not to improve with the schedule we had. But for me he is throwing the O under the bus because he doesnt talk about what the D does wrong. He just protects the D and says they improved and they won 9 games.. he then turns to the O and says things they need to work on. From the article I read, I didnt see where Golden said the D needed to work on anything.

### Encouraging news for those who want to see UM blitz more and play more man coverage: Al Golden said last week UM will be more aggressive in its defensive approach this season.

Here's how Golden answered when WQAM’s Channing Crowder asked Golden what he says to people who criticize him about his loyalty to defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio.

"It doesn't have anything to do with my loyalty to D'Onofrio," he said. "It has to do with: We were better this year than last year. And two seasons ago we played 14 or 15 freshmen on defense. Now we're
better. We've been trying to add to that and improve on defense during a very difficult time.

"Here's what our defense was good enough to do last year: They were good enough to win nine. Now we've got to get better and win more games. The offense wasn't good on third down [or] time of possession. Both of those directly impact defense.

"Anybody who wants to blitz and play cover 1, who wouldn't want to do that? We feel we have a group here that is going to allow us to be more aggressive. The deeper you are, the more athletic you are, the more things you can do.

"You can call all the pressers you want. If your fourth and fifth [rushers] aren't getting there, someone is hung out to dry down the field. We've made a lot of progress there, adding 14 guys [on defense] that can help us. Most of our guys that had interceptions, sacks, caused fumbles are returning. Why would we abort right now?"

^^^ if I read that correctly there were 2-3 praises for the defense, and 2-3 excuses for the defense. A couple of the excuses were blamed on the offense. I think I have a pretty good case for the O being thrown under the bus lol

1 more thing: Look at Coach L. He schemes and puts his team in position to win. Golden needs to take notes and scheme to his players and who he is playing vs the stubborn, 'I'm going to play my defense no matter what'.
NOW, maybe this year and going forward it works and we win (let's all hope) BUT that doesn't mean that the last 3 years we couldn't have done better with a more aggressive, etc defense. JMO

Maybe we should change the schedule and add 2 more high school teams, so when we win 10 games we can say we "improved" hahaha...

And improved Miami team wouldnt of lost to Duke (and give up 48), wouldnt of lost to a VT team we blew out the year before, wouldnt of needed last minute drives against bad UNC and WF teams and wouldnt of been embarrassed on national tv against Miamiville after having a month to prepare. Take out ND and KSU, add in SSU and FAU and there are your 2 more wins. And improved Miami team would of won the WEAK AZZ coastal division after "winning" it the year before.

We will learn a lot about Miami this next year. Hopefully we see REAL improvement against a tougher schedule. This means no blow out losses, not even to FSU. No average player having a career day. Getting off the field on 3rd down and not let the same play beat you on 3rd down over and over.

Even with the talent on D improving, im not convinced D'No or Golden can scheme or call the right plays against a decent offensive coordinator.

No whats Sad is skewing stats or just blaming one side of the ball and acting like the other side of the ball bears no blame LB. Just keeping it real. The Defense was bad last year make no mistake but your constant acting as if the offense was the greatest thing since sliced bread and never having issues with it is what some of us take issue with. Some only want to act as if the reason we were 9-4 was only because the defense let them tell it the offense was flawless. (Side Eye). Like I said all areas need to improve but let some tell it only the defense needs to improve. Its funny we can list all the defensive defiency's but as soon as someone mentions the problems on offense those get all into their feelings and thats my friends is sad. All we should care about is the team winning. Like I have said before its the Miami Hurricanes not the Miami Defense. Because until the game of football changes. U gonna need all 3 fazes to win games and titles. But I guess defense is the facet that counts it's the new day in football it no longer needs offense or special teams, just like its all about yards that has replaced the scoreboard. Welcome to the new football everyone where only yards and defense determines the winner? Sigh.

No one is ever going to change anyone else's mind on here. That's been proven every single time any subject comes up.

The only thing I'll say is it's wrong to back out any games from overall stats. Every team in college football plays these preseason games so unless you're doing it to every other team, let the stats be what they are.

It most certainly answers the question "what needs to improve?". Everything else pertaining to what rank we were in different categories are now unimportant as they are in the past. We sucked. But we sucked LAST season.

I guess the new theme is "Forget what your eyes saw last year and believe we'll be better because Golden said it" that not gonna happen due to GO Canes and 30CINCO constant defense of AL golden, CR, UMike and myself will just counter their debate with the facts which just happen to be from LAST SEASON

Ohio. I never asked what needs to improve.. or at least I wasnt trying to... My question was what would you consider and improvement on D next year. For example, no 40 point games would be a sign of improvement or no 500 yard games.. those would be legit signs of improvement. That is what I am asking, what would you consider an improvement next year worthy of saving D'No's job.

I just typed my opinion but it was chewed...long and short of it was..

theU has the athletes, Always Does, the scheme sucks bottomline..

The All-World Offensive line didn't flourish because they are practicing against SwissCheese..

SwissCheese doesn't work because our players are better than the idiot scheme..

Recruits see the same and they know the players personally these kids have been playing AAU together since pups please don't be fooled they think they kids are not able to perform if they choose else where its the coach scheme not players not talkn to them and etc etc

I guess the new theme is "Forget what your eyes saw last year and believe we'll be better because Golden said it" that not gonna happen due to GO Canes and 30CINCO constant defense of AL golden, CR, UMike and myself will just counter their debate with the facts which just happen to be from LAST SEASON

Posted by: SinisterCane | February 10, 2014 at 10:48 AM
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It's get used often when some don't really mean it, but this literally made me LOL

GoCanes: Neither U Nor Golden can push that these kids are not elite athletes

1. Miami was not the only school chasing them
2. Miami being better on defense is purely because the schedule was watered down
3. Miami's defense was better when it was handed to Golden so where did all this supposed not ready, not good, etc etc crap come from
4. THIS IS THE U...Did U Forget we aren't entertaining bottom feeder kids we have very good football players who are being underdeveloped largely proven by so many of them progressing to great NFL players leaving us scratching our heads about why the greatness didn't flash at the U.. It is called scheme...I was a HUGE Randy supporter but guess what his issue was Development (he was horrible at it) I accept Golden but his issue is (HIS SCHEME BITES) U can't bring your piddly scheme to a place none for flying around(sure miss reading that)now that we don't (fly around) that blame goes to Al and No'D... Love It Own It. Stop Blaming the kids that U hand picked, i.e. Golden Campers....Ijs he builds this crap wall and then doesn't want to own up to it he deflects his issue off on everyone but the guilty party HIMSELF... 30 U can say it NO MORE SWISS CHEESE...If U call getting better playing more inferior opponents SURE we got better there U go 30.

RCCF...Bring back the real games and Flying Around and Oh Yea NO MORE SWISS CHEESE!!